It’s the 5th day of climate talks and SuperBadger got some beauty sleep last night to make sure he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed today ready to welcome some very important people to Copenhagen – Tearfund’s Climate Campaigners!

The welcome flags are flying (although of course the campaigners aren't)

This elite team of campaigners have travelled through the night across 5 countries to bring their message loud and clear ‘Climate Justice Now! Protect the Poorest!’. They will be blogging here over the next few days so keep an eye out for some exclusive views from the campaigning frontline.

Getting ready for their arrival, Superbadger got thinking about other people coming to Copenhagen. Well over 100 Presidents and Prime Ministers will arrive next week but UK Energy and Climate Change minister Ed Miliband is already here (look out for an opportunity to badger him in the next week or so). International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is also coming. In fact, he sent a special message to Superbadgers followers all about it:

On Saturday thousands of Tearfund supporters came together in London, Glasgow and Belfast to make their voices heard as part of The Wave demonstrations. From Superbadger to those who cycled all the way across the country – thank you! Your commitment and your concern is vital as the Copenhagen talks get underway, European Development Ministers, including myself, have now also committed to attend Copenhagen next week to specifically discuss the issue of the impact of climate change on the world’s poorest people. I wanted to let you know why I will be going and what will be on my mind.

Along with the Prime Minister, my colleague Ed Miliband, and the rest of the government – we are hearing the clear voice of people around this country, and around the world, who want us to fight for an ambitious deal that works for the world’s poorest people.

When I go to that meeting, I will be thinking of what I have seen for myself of the impact that climate change is having in the developing world. In Kenya I met a man who told me that the seasons he remembered as a child have gone. In Bangladesh I met families who have had their homes swept away by the rising waters. In Ethiopia, I met women who had been forced by drought to walk further each day to collect water until they were walking 5 hours simply to drink from a watering hole shared by people and animals alike.

These experiences have convinced me that one of the most critical issues for our discussions should be the additional financial support that the developed world must provide for poor countries, to help them cope with climate change. Climate change threatens to make poverty the future for millions. I believe that getting the right global deal on carbon and climate finance, could be more vital to tackling global poverty than even the Gleneagles summit of 2005.

This letter shows that campaigning works! It’s great to hear the UK government talking about the importance of the deal at Copenhagen for poor people. After all, isn’t it what we’ve been badgering them about all year? SuperBadger is feeling inspired to make sure that Mr Alexander follows through on his word so if you haven’t yet please take the latest action here.

We wouldn’t want the UK government accidentally negotiating for anything less than what poor communities themselves are calling for would we? Let’s make sure that Mr Alexander knows that this means $200 billion of climate financing annually by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. This must be new and additional public funding, not aid repackaged as climate finance. Get badgering!

Badger Douglas Alexander to make sure the climate deal at Copenhagen really works for poor people!

The International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is going to be at the UN Climate talks on Monday. In a letter to Tearfund he says ‘…getting the right global deal on carbon and climate finance, could be more vital to tackling global poverty than even the Gleneagles summit of 2005’.

Badger him now to make sure he knows what ‘the right global deal on climate finance’ looks like and that he does everything possible to get the EU to commit to it.

Though, I'm sure it would be difficult to get any work done with a badger on your head.

There’s lots of recycling going on at the climate talks in Copenhagen but it’s not the sort of recycling that helps us in the fight against climate change. It’s a recycling of aid money as climate financing and its bad news for those most affected by climate change, poor people.

We need to send a clear message to rich countries that aid money and climate financing are not the same thing. Poor countries, experiencing the additional burdens and costs of climate change impacts, need additional funds to cope with them.

Similarly, the outcomes of Copenhagen must provide long term climate financing to help poor communities deal with the long term impacts of climate change. Funding commitments that only cover the next few years are not good enough and threaten the future of millions.

As Mr Alexander heads for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen let’s remind him exactly what a good deal on climate financing looks like for poor people. Go to http://apps.facebook.com/superbadger/ to make a difference!

Answer: When it’s an Avaaz campaigner pulling a stunt to try and find leadership on climate change at the UN talks in Copenhagen.

Question 2: When is a good deal on emissions cuts not a good deal?

Answer: When it’s full of loopholes.

Superbadger spent some time with Tearfund’s policy team this morning learning about the complexity of what’s under discussion in the vast conference centre in Copenhagen. It turns out that you need to construct agreements very carefully indeed in order to make sure that cheeky countries don’t promise emission reductions which turn out to be a load of hot air as they escape out the back door.

Making sure that what is agreed here doesn’t have any technical loopholes is tricky but it’s something which must be done if the outcomes of Copenhagen are to be deemed successful. Superbadger will be ‘pawing’ over the press releases coming out next Friday very carefully to make sure that things that might sound good actually are good. And if the outcomes aren’t good for poor and vulnerable communities, first and worst affected by the ravages of climate change, then they won’t be good at all. Superbadger is making a stand, he won’t be spun a line by anyone!

After months of badgering, praying and ‘Waving’ the UN Climate talks are well and truly underway! Superbadger has dutifully queued for a couple of hours to receive a pass for the conference and, camera in hand, has done a quick tour of the conference to see what there is to see…

First up is a wall of screens on the way to the main meeting rooms called ‘The UN Climate Wall’. Here the UN are promising to post messages from people around the world. Mmmm… they aren’t saying much so far…

What would your message to world leaders be?

Just along the corridor is a hive of activity. There are people and laptops everywhere. And every half an hour or so, noise erupts from groups of campaigners attracting the attention of the media and the negotiators. People are employing all sorts of tactics from dances to aliens to try and make sure the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable are heard and heeded here.

Yes, that is an enormous tree growing inside the building!

In fact, it’s so noisy here that this delegate has had to resort to putting his laptop on his head to be heard as he skypes.

It's important to be heard (one way or another)

Superbadger hopes that all this activity is going to make sure we get a FAB (fair, ambitious and binding deal) at Copenhagen. But simply showing up isn’t enough. We need leaders and decision makers here who have the mandate to agree the deal, not just vent hot air.

Last year more than 6,000 Tearfund supporters signed postcards, letters and SuperBadger actions calling for the UK government to say no to new unabated coal-fired power stations.

Coal-fired power stations are the dirtiest form of energy production.

Ensuring no new power stations are built without technology to capture and store the emissions is vital in the fight to tackle climate change.

The actions were delivered to Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. His response is below.

Tearfund welcomes the Secretary of State’s response as a clear step forward in reducing the UK’s emissions.

However, carbon capture and storage remains an unproven technology at anything like the scale needed. We simply can’t say with confidence that this is going to work.

Whilst this is welcome progress, it is vital that the government goes further by pushing for greater energy efficiency and renewable energy rather than a continuing reliance on coal.

Take action and pray for the UK government to work for a strong and fair deal on climate change here.

Ed Miliband’s response to coal actions

Dear friends

I wanted to write to say thank you.

Over the last year, groups like Tearfund changed the politics of coal, and made change possible.

6,000 of you wrote in to oppose coal without carbon capture and storage. In April, I could announce new proposals to say no new coal without CCS, and an early commitment to retrofit so we don’t get high-carbon lock-in. They are the toughest coal conditions of any country in the world, something we can be justly proud of, and it couldn’t have happened without you.

Now we have a new challenge, bigger and more difficult than coal: the global deal. It’s a make-or-break time for the planet, and if it is left to politicians alone, or if it is left until 3am on the last night in December, we won’t succeed. I need your help now.

I’ve published our manifesto for the negotiations – our argument for a global deal. We’re sending 20,000 copies to schools and other public institutions around the country.

I hope you’ll join the debate, have a look at our proposals, and make the case for a global deal that matches the science.